Fall Of The Republic

Is the senate sellout the beginning of the end?

Shortly after 1:00 AM EST the votes were cast, toppling in disgrace one of the most important institutions in the history of democracy. In the dead of night, on Christmas week, 58 democratic and 2 self declared independent members of The United States Senate, voted for Cloture to end “debate” on Barack Obama’s healthcare takeover bill.

The most far reaching piece of legislation in 50 years, which will significantly impact the lives every American citizen, was drafted in secrecy by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in conjunction with aides from the White House. The time allotted for debate of the 2,000+ page bill, that only a handful of the senators had seen and none had read, was less than 48 hours.

In a slavish manner reminiscent of the once proud senators of the ancient Roman Republic who were reduced to puppet status under the Roman emperors, the 60 votes were cast without regard for the best interests of the country, the will of the people, or personal integrity. Their emperor wanted it done by Christmas.

“Horse trading” for votes has long been part and parcel of the deliberative process in the senate. Senators commonly agree to vote for the bills and amendments of other senators in return for support of their own. And without doubt, many bills are passed in spite of clear conflicts of interest.

But never in America’s history had our senators so openly solicited bribes, nor so arrogantly boasted about accepting such bribes in return for their votes, as during the legislative stampede to pass a healthcare bill pleasing to President Barack Obama.

Purchases, kickbacks and miscellaneous sellouts
Senator Reid and the White House unabashedly paid for these bribes with tax payer dollars. The payoffs were, for the most part, in the form of special exemptions from the “healthcare reform” bill’s punitive taxes and/or mandated increased state contributions to Medicare and Medicaid. Other “incentives” included favorable treatment to corporations and organizations that provide hefty campaign donations to some senators. And those are only the bribes we know about.

Senate members openly joked about the “Louisiana Purchase”- the $300 million in special grants to Louisiana written into the bill in order to gain the support of Senator Mary Landrieu just to bring the bill to the senate floor. The “Cornhusker Kickback” was just that. A $100 million payoff to Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson by way of a permanent exemption from increased state contributions to Medicaid for Nebraska. Senator Nelson disgraced himself more than most by agreeing to vote for watered down restrictions regarding federal funding of abortions in return for his bribe.

Though the Landrieu and Nelson payoffs were the most publicized purchases of senatorial votes, such bribes were the rule rather than the exception. And each and every one of these “exemptions” will have to be made up for by higher taxes extracted from the citizens of states whose senators simply gave their votes away in hope of gaining favor with Barack Obama.

The emperor throws his clothes out the window
As for Caligula himself, President Obama flinched not a minute in abandoning several major campaign promises. Candidate Obama ridiculed primary opponent Hilary Clinton’s call for a mandate requiring individuals to purchase health insurance. Both the Senate and House versions of Mr Obama’s healthcare proposals contain such mandates for both individuals and businesses.

Candidate Barack Obama demonized the health insurance industry as the root of America’s healthcare “crisis”. After extensive, unpublicized negotiations with the White House, those same insurance companies will, in the short term, prosper gloriously from his insurance mandates. In the long run, the emperor will turn on them. Private insurers will be wiped out and replaced by the single payer government controlled health insurance program Mr Obama envisioned in his well documented speeches from 2007 and 2003.

During the campaign candidate Obama also demagogued against the Bush administration’s refusal to permit Americans to purchase their prescription drugs from Canadian pharmacies at significantly reduced cost. The senate bill President Obama lauded today prohibits such purchases.

And far from least, Candidate Hope And Change pledged complete transparency in his government should he be elected our 44th president. A pledge abandoned early on in President Obama’s administration and epitomized by the back room dealings utilized to pass healthcare legislation overwhelming opposed by the American people.

President Obama now basks in the hopes that a bribed and coerced US Senate has helped him initiate what will ultimately become a government takeover of America’s healthcare industry. Control of Americans’ access to medical treatment is a pivotal turning point in the creation of the socialist society Barack Obama has envisioned for America since his first days as a “community organizer”.

Healthcare malpractice
The bill, itself, has nothing to do with making Americans healthier. It is pure smoke and mirrors legislation through and through. Over $400 billion in new federal taxes will take effect immediately upon the president’s signature, while the “benefits” don’t kick in until 2014. That is one of the accounting gimmicks, along with cutting Medicare by $500 billion, underlying the bogus claim of lowering the deficit.

The federal bureaucracy is expanded to regulate the type of policies that may be offered by insurance companies and to enforce the insurance purchase mandates on individuals and business. And Death Panels will indeed function under the senate bill in the form of “Medicare Advisory Panels” which will determine what kind of care should be made available to seniors.

These are, no doubt, just a few of the more obvious evils imbedded in those 2,000 some pages drafted in secrecy. And every senator who voted for this bill knows, in his or her heart, that this legislation is inherently bad for America. Yet those 58 democrats and 2 independents sold out the American people for purposes of blind political ideology, or for what ultimately amounts to a few shekels.

The original Caligula, wishing to express his contempt for the subservience of the Roman Senate, made his favorite horse a member. America’s emperor can now boast that his senate has sixty.